In the social production of their existence, men inevitably enter into definite relations, which are independent of their will, namely relations of production appropriate to a given stage in the development of their material forces of production. The totality of these relations of production constitutes the economic structure of society, the real foundation, on which arises a legal and political superstructure and to which correspond definite forms of social consciousness.
-Karl Marx
Production is the most fundamental human activity. Production of means of subsistence by humans distinguishes them from the animals. Humans, separated from the animal stage, started making goods for their necessities by labouring over nature using instruments of labour. The process of making things by labouring over nature or objects of labour using instruments of labour with a definite aim of producing means of subsistence is called Production. Labour and Production began when the ancient humans learnt to make the stone tools, the first instruments of labour. Labour made humans social beings and played a key role in the development of their physical and mental powers.
Modes of Production: The Material Basis of Society
The development of any society is determined by its mode of production – the way it organizes economic life. Human society has always been organized around its tools in the production of its material needs. Each historical period is characterized materially by its forces of production (The tools, technology, and labour used to produce goods and services) and relations of production (The social relationships that define how goods are produced and who owns the means of production). Together these make up the material and economic base of society – the mode of production. The interaction between these elements determines how societies are structured and how they evolve.
Productive Forces and Production Relations
1. Productive Forces: Production is the effort to convert natural resources into useful goods for daily use for human beings (e.g., peasants growing crops, potters making pots, workers weaving cloth, manufacturing rail engines or rockets, etc.). All the things and forces used by human beings for producing goods are known as productive forces.
Forces of production include everything we use to fulfill human needs – the instruments of production (e.g., tools, factories, etc.), and the objects of production (e.g., land, raw materials, etc.).
Example – In feudal society: ploughs, axes, land, early handicrafts, etc; In capitalist society: machinery, factories, industrial technology, etc.
Productive forces can be broadly divided into means of production (e.g., plough in agrarian societies or machinery in capitalism) and agents of production (e.g., peasants, workers, artisans, etc.).
- Means of Production: The means of production consist of the material constituents of productive forces, i.e., instruments (or, means of labour – A thing or a complex of things, which the labourer uses for his activity. e.g., ploughs, axes, looms, machines, etc.) and objects of production (Anything at which human labour is directed. e.g., land, forests, mines, raw materials, plants, animals, etc).
- Agents of Production: The labourers who produce, i.e., human labour (human with labour skills and knowledge are human labour, e.g., peasants, workers, artisans, etc.).
Human labour and means of production, are both necessary to produce any article. Labourers apply their labour power to the objects of labour using means of labour to produce necessary goods for daily life.
2. Production Relations : Production is a social process, based on some degree of a division of labour. The social relations that develop among human beings during the process of production to organise and facilitate the production of their needs, including property relations and the division of labour, are known as production relations (or, economic relations).
Example – In feudalism: Feudal lords controlled land; serfs (peasants) were tied to the land; In capitalism: Capitalists own the means of production; workers sell their labour.
Base and Superstructure:
Mode of production is the material base of social life. The material conditions of life (economic forces and social relations) fundamentally shape the development of human society. Human values, behaviours, and ideologies evolve according to the material conditions of society. All non-economic aspects of society (e.g., politics, religion, literature, art and culture, etc.) originate from this base. Each stage of society has definite economic relations, established in the process of material production, and corresponding social, political, and cultural processes dependent on these economic relations. These non-economic aspects of social life are called as superstructure. Superstructure, not only originates from the economic base but also helps to save and strengthen the economic base from which it originates. The structure of a society is made up of a set of ideological apparatuses whose function is the reproduction of the mode of production (e.g., legal systems: the courts and the police; cultural institutions: schools, media, religion and the broad political and philosophical ideas that characterize society). The entire social structure which consists of the base and the superstructure together, is called as socio-economic formation. There is a dialectical relation between the base and superstructure.
In the contradiction between the base and superstructure, the base typically is the primary aspect. When the old production relations become fetters to the development of society (development of productive forces), the superstructure built on the basis of that mode of production plays a reactionary role. The struggle to overthrow the obsolete production relations should also aim at the overthrow of the obsolete superstructure. Along with the new production relations, the new superstructure also develops.
The motive force of human society: Contradiction between the productive forces and the production relations
At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.
-Marx (A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy)
In the process of its historical development, society passed through various socio-economic formations, from primitive society to capitalism. Each stage is characterized by a unique mode of production and class structure, defined by the level of the development of its productive forces and the corresponding relations of production. As the productive forces develop to higher levels, eventually the relations of production that at first encouraged and accelerated their development begin to hold them back, and those relations of production must be changed in order for the productive forces to be able to develop further. Each change from one mode of production to the next meant the advancement of the productive forces and the revolutionizing of the relations of production. With the advent the obsolete production relations should also aim at the overthrow of the obsolete superstructure. Along with the new production relations, the new superstructure also develops.
The motive force of human society: Contradiction between the productive forces and the production relations
At a certain stage of development, the material productive forces of society come into conflict with the existing relations of production or – this merely expresses the same thing in legal terms – with the property relations within the framework of which they have operated hitherto. From forms of development of the productive forces these relations turn into their fetters. Then begins an era of social revolution. The changes in the economic foundation lead sooner or later to the transformation of the whole immense superstructure.
–Marx (A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy)
In the process of its historical development, society passed through various socio-economic formations, from primitive society to capitalism. Each stage is characterized by a unique mode of production and class structure, defined by the level of the development of its productive forces and the corresponding relations of production. As the productive forces develop to higher levels, eventually the relations of production that at first encouraged and accelerated their development begin to hold them back, and those relations of production must be changed in order for the productive forces to be able to develop further. Each change from one mode of production to the next meant the advancement of the productive forces and the revolutionizing of the relations of production. With the advent of a new mode of production, the entire socio-economic formation reaches a new and higher stage. These changes also created great shifts in the legal, political and ideological superstructure to reinforce the base, demanding changes in legal structures, education, family relations, and so on. All the stages in the history of human society are different stages in the development of the mode of production. The history of human society can be defined as the history of the modes of production. Contradictions between Productive Forces and Production Relations are the motive force of human society, which leads to revolutionary change and evolution from one stage to another.
Dialectics of Development of the Productive Forces and Production Relations
- The productive forces determine the development of the relations of production.
- A contradiction arises and intensifies between the constantly growing productive forces and the relatively stable relations of production.
- The contradiction is resolved through a replacement of the old relations of production with new ones, which correspond to the grown productive forces.
The relations of production have an active influence on the development of the productive forces: new ones accelerate, and obsolete ones obstruct their development.
